She felt calm. It seemed to make sense that the cassowary would turn into a person. Why wouldn’t it?
Is this it? Did I get blown up after all, and now my brain is just providing me with some hallucinations as it shuts down?
I guess there are worse ways to go. I’m not in any pain. I’m not seeing any cassowaries anymore. And Rhysdoessmell nice.
… I wish I’d had a chance to get to know him better.
“Shaz!!” Rhys hissed. “What did Ijustsay?!”
“Nice to see you too, arsehole,” the cassowary woman – Shaz, Maisie supposed – sneered. “Here you are, knocking things over and making a ruckus in my home, and my man is nowhere to be seen. Whywouldn’tI come see what’s going on?”
“Why would you kick down the damn door?” Rhys yelled. Maisie’s head turned as if on autopilot – and, she supposed, the door didn’t look so much like it hadexplodedas it looked like it had been kicked down by an enraged cassowary, sending the piles of rubbish in its general proximity flying every which way.
So, no explosion, then – just a grumpy giant bird kicking down a door because it couldn’t find its boyfriend.
Does that mean…?
Maisie’s head swiveled over toward the desk… and there was…
Is that… no… it can’t be…
Maisie’s eyes widened as she stared at the… the tiny, rather chubby kangaroo?... that was currently hopping out fromunderneath the desk Michael had been sitting at before the door had unexpectedly blown off its hinges.
No – not a kangaroo,Maisie thought in a daze.That’s – that’s a quokka.
She’d never seen one in real life before, not ever having had the chance to go to Rottnest Island, but she recognized them from the tourism campaigns, the famous people taking selfies next to their adorable little faces, the fact that, for a while, they’d been the inescapable celebrity animal of Australia.
But why is there one here? Under a desk?!
Her questions were answered – sort of – a moment later when, just as the cassowary had before it, the tiny quokka shimmered a little, and then began to grow – until it had becomemuchmore human-shaped and sized.
Or…Michael-shaped and sized,Maisie thought, dazed, her head spinning.
Michael dusted himself off – though with the state this place was in, Maisie could hardly imagine that he was clean to begin with – and straightened his glasses.
“That’s the third door this year,” he said, as if it was a perfectly rational explanation. “No one will insure us anymore, not even Shifters Plus.”
Shifters Plus? What the hell is that?!
“Well, I’m sorry,” the woman said, clearly deciding to fend off the accusations by getting defensive. “I heard strange voices and I didn’t know what was going on.”
“Had you ever thought of knocking?” Michael asked, throwing his hands up. “You scared the hell out of me!”
“Well, I didn’t mean to!” Shaz retorted. “And how about telling me if you’re going to have people over? How am I supposed to be your bodyguard if you won’t tell me anything! These people could have been anyone!”
Michael and Shaz continued their bickering – the thoughtJust like an old married coupledrifted into Maisie’s mind – as she watched, feeling strangely detached from it all.
Detachedwas probably for the best, she decided. The other options of ‘screaming and running out of the house’ or ‘calling the cops and telling them she’d just been attacked by a door-kicking cassowary’ just didn’t appeal.
Vaguely, she became aware of Rhys rubbing at the bridge of his nose in apparent frustration… though, she noticed, he still had one hand on her leg. Heat spread through her from the point of contact, and she shivered.
The slight movement seemed to jerk Rhys back to reality, and he quickly moved his hand off of Maisie’s leg.
No! Put it back!
Though, she supposed, it probably wasn’t a great idea to be getting turned on while a woman who could apparently turn into a cassowary and a sweaty nerd quokka man seemed to have finished their argument and were both staring at her as ifshewas the one who needed to answer questions here.
And maybe she was. Because everyone here seemed to think that this kind of behavior was perfectly normal.Shewas the only one here who hadn’t decided to turn into an animal. Well, she and Rhys.
